Cutting and flanging attachment



.My E?, MSE H. A. LANG- ET AL.

CUTTING AND FLANGTNG ATTACHMENT Filed Nov. 28. 1947 l e Zin INVEN TOR. Herz?? A. LANG .MJ FaYM Ganz/Es,

TTNEK two parallel sides joining Patented July 17,1951 A Unirse srATss 'PATENT OFFICE CUTTING AND FLANGING ATTACHMENT Harry A. Lang and Roy M. Graves, Evansville, Ind.

Application November 28, 1947, Serial No. 788,764

.i The present invention relates to an attachment for rotary shears and hangers, the attachment being of such character as to provide for the cutting or flanging or juggling of metal sheets to produce obround contours. The term obround is used throughout the present specication and claims to dene a plane gure having semicircular ends. While the rotary shears, flangers, and joggling devices have long been known to the art, and while those devices have been capable, with suitable attachments, cf producing rectilinear, irregular, or circular cuts, the art has long desired, and has never had, an attachment which would automatically cause such a machine to shear, flange, or joggle upon an obround contour.

The object of the present invention, then, is to produce an attachment, readily associable with, or removable from, known types of rotary machines for shearing, hanging, or joggling, and which will operate automatically, in conjunction with such a machine, to provide a epredetermined obround contour upon the work piece processed yby that machine. Further objects of the invention will appear as the description pro- CeedS.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a rotary machine of the character above referred to, provided with cutting rolls, and showing our attachment associated therewith;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of our attachment, parts being broken away for clarity of illustration;

Fig. 3 is a still further enlarged fragmental section taken substantially on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a similar fragmental section taken` upon a plurality of .planes transverse to the work carrier.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that we have illustrated a part of a rotary machine il). Such a machine provides a work-receiving throat ll behinda pair of spindles upon which may be mounted rolls such as the rolls l2 and I3. In the illustrated embodiment, we have shown joggling rolls, but it will be understood that the cutting rolls, fianging rolls, or rolls to perform other similar operi 9 Claims. (Cl. 153-29) ations may be substituted for the joggling rolls I2 and I3, in a manner well known to theart.'

A guide bed I4, having legs Iii, may be associated with the machine I in a manner well known to the art, such guide bed providing a slideway upon which is mounted the foot I5 of a work support 20. In the illustrated embodiment, the guide bed I4 is provided with a rack I1 with which cooperates a pinion I8, suitably journalled on the foot I6 and provided with a crank I9 for adjusting the unit 20 toward and away from the rolls I2 and i3. All of this is standard construction. j

, The unit ordinarily provides a table 2| 'hav ing a threaded socket 22 for the reception of a centering pin, used in producing circular cuts, flanges, or joggles in the standard machine. According to the present invention, that centering 'pin `will be replaced by a pin 23 having a threaded shank 24 and, at its opposite end, aholddown head 25. A work carrier 26 is provided with a central, longitudinally extending slot 21 through which the pin 23 snugly passes, the-head 1 25 acting to hold down the carrier 26 upon a xed base 39,` with respect to which the carrier 26 is movable. It will be clear` that theV body of the pin 23 passes through a suitable perforation 38 in the fixed base 39.

The carrier 25 is obround in plan, providing opposite parallel sides 28 and 23 joining semicircular ends 3U and 3l. The sides 28 and 29 are parallel with the slot 27, and the ends 32 and 33 of said slot are located at the centers of curvature of the carrier ends 30 and 3l, respectively. Adjacent each end, there is mounted upon the carrier 26 a bridge piece 34 0135, the piece 34 carrying an upstanding pin 36 and the piece 35 carrying an upstanding pin 3l. The work L screws 4l passing through the base 33 at spaced zpoints and taking into branched supports de, or in any other suitable manner.

At a point between the pin 23 and the rolls I2 and I3, there is flXedly secured to the base 39 an abutment element 42 proportioned and designed to establish a guide plane perpendicular to the plane including the axis of the pin 23 and the axes of the rolls I2 and I3. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the abutment member 42 is secured to the base 39 by a plurality of screws 43, and its edge facing the pin 23 is recessed, as at 44, for the reception of a plurality of rollers 45 mounted upon vertical axes 46. The rollers are so positioned as to be tangent to a plane perpendicular to said plane containing the axes of the pins 23 and the rollers 'I2 and I 3, and spaced from the axis of the pin 23 a distance substantially equal to one-half the transverse dimension of the carrier 26. Thus, when the carrier 26 is in its illustrated position, its edge 28 will bear against the rollers 45.

Preferably, the rollers closest to the plane containing the axes of the pin 23 and the rolls I 2 and I3 will be so closely spaced as to be substantially in peripheral contact. In the illustrated embodiment, it will be noted that the axis 46' of-one roll 45 is located in the said plane. The rollers 45 more remote from said plane may be more Widely spaced from each other.

A bracket 41 is suitably secured to the under surface of the base 39, and acts to guide an abutment pin 48, said pin carrying a collar 49 against which bears a spring 50 which resiliently holds the upper end 5I of said pin at a level above the base 39. The pin 48 is perpendicularly spaced .from the tangent plane of the rollers 45 a distance substantially equal to the transverse dimension of the carrier 36, so that, at times, the upper end 5I of 'said pin cooperates with the rollers to guide the carrier 26 in its movement.

Near one end of the carrier, its lower surface is provided with a pair of grooves 52 and 52', lying in a common circle centered upon the axis of the pin 23. The groove 52 opens through the .side edge 28 of the carrier 26 and has a vertical depth slightly greater than the height of the end 5I of the'pin 48 above the base'39. The dimension of the groove 52 in the direction of longitude of the carrier 26 is substantially equal to the diameter of the pin 5I; and the base of said groove is inclined (see Fig. 3), so that it merges with the bottom surface of the carrier 26 before the groove reaches 4the slot 21. The aligned groove 52 opens into the slot 21 and is similarly proportioned.

Near the 'opposite end of the carrier 26, said carrier is formed with a second pair of 'grooves 53 and 53', aligned upon a common circle centered upon the axis of the pin 23. i

As is well understood in the art, the rolls I2 and I3 (or one of them) will be driven by the mechanism of the machine I; and when work is fed between said rolls, the work will be moved past the rolls, by the action of the rolls, as they operate upon the work to cut it, flange it, or joggle it. Since the base 39 is fixed, and since the work 54 is fixed with respect to the carrier 26, which is movable in a path determined by the pin 23, the element 42 with its rollers, and the pin 5I, it will be apparent that the work will be moved in such a fashion as to shift the carrier` 26 toward the lower left hand corner of the sheet, as viewed in Fig. 2. This movement will be rectilinear, since the edge 28 of the carrier 26 is held rmly against the rollers 45 by the pin 23, until the end 32 of the slot 21 strikes the pin 23. At this instant, the groove 53 will register with the pin end 5I. As the engaged portionof the work 54 continues to try to move toward the lower left hand corner of the sheet as viewed in Fig. 2, the carrier 26 will be swung about the axis of the pin 23, the rounded end 30 of said carrier meanwhile being engaged with the rollers 45 adjacent the plane joining the axes of the pin 23 and the rollers I2 and I3. The groove 53 thus is caused to embrace the end 5I of the pin 48, the base of said groove pressing the pin 48 downwardly against the tendency of the spring 5U. The pin 48 will spring upwardly into the slot 21, as the carrier continues to turn, and then will be engaged by the groove 53', after which it will spring upwardly past the edge 28 of the carrier. The carrier will continue to rotate about the axis of the pin 25 until the carrier 26 has turned through degrees and the edge 29 comes into engagement with the rollers 45. Thereafter, the action of the rolls I2 and I3 will move the reversed work again toward the lower left hand corner of the sheet as viewed in Fig. 2 until the end 33 of the slot cornes into engagement with the pin 23, after which continued operation of the rolls I2 and I3 will cause the carrier to swing again, through 180 degrees, about the axis of thepin 23, the grooves 52 and 52 this time cooperating with the end 5I of the pin 48. Rotation of the carrier andthe work will continue until the edge 28 again comes into engagement with the rolls 45, after which, if the cut has not yet been completed, the carrier and work will again be moved toward the lower left hand corner of the sheet, as viewed in Fig.2. For instance, if the cutting, anging, or joggling operation was begun with the parts in the Vpositions illustrated in Fig. 2, obviously the carrier will move to carry the slot end 33 away from the pin 23 and to return the carrier 26 to the position illustrated in Fig. 2.

It will be clear from the above description that the operation of the disclosed attachment is iully automatic, once the parts have been set, and that accurate contouring will be produced without attention by the operator. The contour of the iinished piece will, of course, correspond to the specific contour of the carrier 26 whichis selected for use and its spacing from the point of coaction of the rolls I2 and I3. The width of the finished work-piece, and the radius of curvature of its ends, are variable, of course, by adjusting the unit 20 to move the pin 23 toward and away from the point of coaction between the rolls I2 and I3. rlhe length of the finished piece, between its rounded ends, is, of course, a function of the length of the slot 21, and may be varied by the substitution for the carrier 26 of alternatively-usable carriers having slots ofdifferent lengths; or by providing means for varying the effective length of the slot 21 and means for correspondingly varying the perpendicular distance from the plane tangent to the rollers 45 to the axis of the pin 23.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a device of the class described, a fixed base, a work carrier movably supported on said base, and slide and guide means provided by said base and carrier, respectively, and cooperating to establish a movement path for said carrier relative to said base, in which said carrier moves rectilinearly to a predetermined extent, then turns about an axis fixed relative to said base, then moves rectilinearly to the same extent in the opposite direction, and then turns about the same axis, said guide means including an element ixed relative to said base and engaged by said carrier, said element deiining said fixed axis, an abutment device on the base engaged by one lateral edge of said carrier throughout the rectilinear movement of said carrier in one direction and another abutment device engaged by another lateral edge of said carrier during the latter portion of such movemet, said other abutment device being mounted for retraction from cooperwative engagement With said carrier, and cam means moving with said carrier and acting upon said other abutment device, when said carrier completes its said rectilinear movement, to effect such retraction of said other abutment dev1ce.

2. In a device of the class described, a ixed base, a work carrier movably supported on said base, and slide and guide means provided by said base and carrier, respectively, and cooperating to establish a movement path for said carrier relative to said base, in which said carrier moves rectilinearly, to a predetermined extent, then turns about an axis xed relative to said base, then moves rectilinearly to the same extent in another direction, and then turns about 'the same axis, said guide means including an element fixed relative to said base and engaged by said carrier, said element defining said xed axis, an abutment device uptsanding from said base and elongated in the direction of rectilinear travel of said carrier and engaging an edge of said carrier throughout the rectilinear movement of said carrier, and another abutment device upstanding from said base and having a very short dimension in the direction of rectilinear travel of said carrier, said other abutment device engaging another lateral edge of said carrier during the latter portion of such movement, the height of said other abutment device being less than the height of said carrier, and said carrier being formed, in its lower surface adjacent each end thereof, with a transverse groove means receiving said other abutment device during turning movement of said carrier.

3. In a device of the class described, a xed base, a work carrier movably supported on said base, said carrier being formed with a longitudinally-extending guideway therein, a pin carried by said base and engaging in said guideway, rectilinear guide, means fixed relative to said base and spaced laterally, relative to the direction of travel of said carrier, from said pin a predetermined distance substantially equal to one-half the dimension of said carrier transverse to said guideway, each end of said carrier being curved upon a radius substantially equal to the distance from said pin to said guide means and centered on the adjacent end of said guideway, and a second guide means supported on said base and spaced from said pin in the direction of travel of said carrier and laterally oppositely spaced from said pin a distance corresponding to said rst-dened lateral distance, said carrier being 6 provided, adjacent each end thereof, with a transverse channel means registering with said second guide means to receive the same when said pin rests in the remote end of said guideway, to free said carrier from restraint by said second guide means.

4. The device of claim 3 in which each of said channel means is open only at that end facing said second guide means when in registry therewith, and is formed with an inclined camming roof surface, said second guide means being resiliently supported against downward movement relative to said base.

5. The device of claim 8 in which each ol said channel means intersects said guideway and in which each section of each channel means on each side of said guideway is open only at that end facing said second guide means when in registry therewith, and is formed with an inclined camming roof surface, said second stop means being resiliently supported against downward movement relative to said base.

6. The device of claim 3 in which said second guide means normally projects beyond the plane of said base and is mounted for retraction into said plane, each of said channel means having an inclined roof coacting with said second guide means, at times, to elect such retraction thereof.

7. The device of claim 3 in which said rectilinear guide means comprises a plurality of rollers mounted upon spaced axes parallel with the axis of said pins, the plane tangent to all of said rollers being parallel with said guidevvay when said pin is intermediate the ends of said guideway, and the axes of the rollers close to a radius from said pin normal to said plane being more closely spaced than are the axes of the rollers more remote from said radius.

8. The device of claim 7 in which said rollers close to a radius from said pin normal to said plane are substantially in peripheral contact with each other.

9. The device of claim 8 in which the axis of one roller is located on the radius from said pin normal to said plane.

HARRY A. LANG. ROY M. GRAVES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Numben Name Date 670,636 Hobbs Mar. 26, 1901 976,388 Meyer Nov. 22, 1910 2,436,401 Petersen Feb. 24, 1948 

